Christina's Reviews > Twice Freed

Twice Freed is a fictionalized account of Onesimus, Philemon's slave who ends up meeting Paul and becoming a Christian. The kids and I read it together and enjoyed it very much. St. John did good research to write this book (both biblical and historical) and has done a nice job filling out the life of Onesimus. At times the book feels a little bit preachy, and yet at the same time, Onesimus' conversion to Christianity (as well as the conversion of Philemon and Archippus) are key to the story, so the longer dialogues about Christianity are not extraneous to the plot at all. When possible, St. John quotes from Paul's epistles during these discussions. The book is also nice because it introduces the reader to a lot of folks mentioned in the New Testament, especially Acts. We're reading through the book of Acts in church, so Twice Freed will help the kids recognize names.
When we finished the book I read Philemon to the kids. It was amazing how well they understood it after reading Twice Freed. It's my experience that many evangelical readers tend to over-spiritualize Philemon, rather than taking Paul's exhortations to Philemon as very earthy and practical ramifications of the gospel. After reading Twice Freed, the kids seemed to understand quite easily that Paul was asking/commanding Philemon to free Onesimus and to treat him just as he would treat Paul himself. After we read Philemon Eden said, "Wait, are you telling me that what you just read is the actual letter that Paul sent to Philemon?" I assured her it was. She said, "So this letter that is 1000 years old is in that book?" (pointing to the Bible). "Yes it is," I said, "but the letter's almost 2000 years old, actually." She was stunned, but also very excited by the information. Reading Twice Freed really helped her understand that the Bible is about real people in real places. Cool.
Overall Twice Freed is a lovely imagining of life in the first century and how the gospel of Jesus Christ genuinely changed those people and places.